


Chloe's Choice

by Aizazadi



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Bay Over Bay, F/F, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Third Choice, Timey-Wimey, bae over bay, pricefield
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 06:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11617998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aizazadi/pseuds/Aizazadi
Summary: Chloe makes the final decision for Max.Bae over Bay and Bay over Bae and Third Choice all in less than 1000 words.Somehow.Relative mindfuck





	Chloe's Choice

Storm.

Not a recollection, not a memory, not looking back through the fuzzy lens of time and interrupted consciousness. Here, now. Right in it. The darkness. The lightning. The oncoming suffocation of wind and rain. The lighthouse, looking out. The storm. Max by her side.

Years later, Chloe Price would think back again to this night amidst Arcadia Bay’s ruins, and ponder what she had done.

Years later, Max Caulfield would dream again of that night, and reach out to feel the warmth of her equally restless friend and lover, as they both calm at each other’s touch.

Years later, Chloe Price lies in the cemetery of an intact Arcadia Bay, with flowers unwilting at her side.

“Chloe, I can’t make this choice…”

“No Max, you’re the only one who can.”

Somehow, all this was playing out right now in Chloe’s head, as she stared into Max’s eyes on the cliff’s edge, beneath the lighthouse’s non-existent blinding light.

 

So it’s Arcadia Bay, or me.

No.

NO.

It’s Arcadia Bay, or HER.

For fuck’s sake. The entire town’s at stake, and all you can think about is _you?_ How fucking selfish is THAT?

She’s the one to make the decision. She’s the only one who can. She’ll choose to save the town, and I'll die, and that’s fine, so many people in that town deserve to live way more than me. Or she’ll choose my life, the town’s destruction, and…

Her happiness.

She won’t be thinking about that. No way. She’s thinking about how she should save everyone in the town, and how much she refuses to let me go. If necessary she’ll fight the entire world for me, except maybe not at the price of everyone else’s lives. THAT’s what she’s thinking about, THAT’s why I love her. Not her own goddamn happiness. Not her own goddamn business.

Which is why she can’t be the one making that choice.

My death doesn’t matter, her life does. Death is temporary, sadness is permanent.

All I have to do is make up my mind. All I have to do is know what I would do. All I have to do is choose.

Maxine Caulfield, I…

–– Max! Stop!

–– Chloe, I…

–– Max, Max listen, do you still have your camera?

–– Chloe, wh… Yes, yes I have it. Why–

–– Can you take a photo of this moment, of now?

–– Chlo…

–– For me? Whatever you choose, wherever we end up, take a photo of the storm, or the lighthouse, or… No, not me. But… take a photo. Please, _please_ , take a photo.

–– I… Chloe, are you thinking…? Yes, okay, I’ll take a photo…

A hand stopped the trembling wrist which retrieved the camera, two arms pulled in two shuddering shoulders in the closest embrace, four lips sealed onto a fusion of love and sadness, and the overwhelming sea of lighthouses in their eyes.

–– I love you, Max… No matter if this works, no matter what you choose, I’ll always love you…

–– I, I love you too, Chloe…

It lasted too long, the embrace. Chloe could barely carry on with what she wanted to do, she felt like a statue, a frozen moment which never shattered, an oath which not time, not the ocean, not Chloe herself could break. She wanted to stay there forever, she _had_ to stay there forever. But she pulled herself away. She…

–– Go ahead Max, take the photo.

The camera went up, and with a flash,

——

came down. Habitually, Max shook the photo, then put it…

She paused. The photo, halfway into her bag, froze, became still as her shocked eyes, from which tears suddenly welled.

The camera fell onto the ground, rolling away into the sea.

–– Chloe…

–– So, it worked? Max?

Slowly, Max’s head turned. Her eyes rose to meet Chloe’s, her lips tightened, her whole instinct holding from an imminent collapse.

–– Yes, yes Chloe, it worked.

–– Max, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry…

–– No Chloe, I understand. I think I understood long ago. THANK YOU.

Max took the photo in both hands, and handed it to Chloe.

–– I… So, what happened?

–– I found your note.

–– My.. So, I’m dead?

–– Of old age. I tried everything, EVERYTHING, Chloe. I think I’m dying too, and I don’t think I can change that either. That’s what you… what _we_ hoped for, right? That’s what you wanted, for _me_ to be happy.

–– Yes. Yes it was. Max… How old was I?

–– 84. We had a wonderful life, Chloe. A wonderful life, together.

–– And the town? What happened to mom? To Blackwell?

–– Everyone died, Chloe. You consoled me, helped me out of my depression and regret, you gave me a new life.

–– …and you gave me peace, Max, something I would never have gotten. Thank you.

–– Oh, Chloe…

–– Now now Max, don’t you be sad. You’ve had a happy life, with _me_ no less. Not many people get to do that. Don’t you be sad at the very last moment… Cheer up, come on, you’re four times my age, I shouldn’t be cheering you up…

–– I… I love you Chloe…

–– I love you too Max… Now go save everyone.

–– And leave you to die…

–– That was the plan, wasn’t it? That was my plan.

No kiss this time. They embraced, holding each other in their bodies and minds, between the approaching storm and a tower near collapse, at the very centre of the swirling vortex of consciousness people call the world. Chloe felt Max’s hands leave her back, and hold out the butterfly photo in her line of sight. Chloe didn’t want Max to go, she wanted to go on like this eternally, like a statue, to never shatter, never fade, to be here forever.

And she did.

**Author's Note:**

> This I think genuinely has THE least amount of mind-fuckery out of everything I've written in English.  
> I wonder if I should post the explanation here. The story itself should be enough for you to figure out what's happening though.
> 
> I FINALLY have written a Life is Strange fanfic. I didn't think it was possible because of all its relaxation about logic and all sorts of fundamental rules in that universe... But I'm reasonably happy with this one.  
> Writing this was weirdly cathartic and heart-wrenching at the same time.
> 
> Thanks to Kenneth, Alexandra, White Fox and Polar Bear. Count on me to make a 900-word fanfic a big deal.  
> Me Chinese. Me English no so good. Just so-so.


End file.
